Do Yourself a Favor...

...and make chocolate covered potato chips as one of your Christmas "cookies." You will thank me. I had a helper! Mostly she just ate the chips...

Anyone who knows Widman's Candy in Fargo, give a shout out. These things are amazing! Put wax paper on the counter, or cookie sheets for portability. Melt some chocolate or almond bark. Dip ruffled potato chips in them. Lay them on the waxed paper until the chocolate hardens. So easy an 18-month-old could do it (with a lot of assistance :0) Widman's covers the whole potato chip, but I just dip them in a 1/3 or 1/2 way. Make sure to use good quality chips. You don't want these things breaking. I've heard Pringles work well too, but I'm a purist :0)

Perfect salty/sweet combo!

Move Over Oprah...

...this is one of MY favorite things!

It's called Bean Salsa. Some people might call it Cowboy Caviar, but I think Bean Salsa is a little more sophisticated. And there is less association with the eating of fish eggs, which sounds DISGUSTING to me.

I got the recipe from my mom, but I'm not sure where she got it. I LOVE this stuff. When eaten with tortilla chips, it is a beautiful marriage of salty and sweet. It's a struggle to limit myself when I eat it...which can be a problem...anyway, here's the recipe.

1/2 cup sugar (I use less)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix together and pour over the following finely chopped ingredients:

1 green pepper (any color is great, really)
1/2 white onion
2 green onions (if you have 'em)
2 fresh cilantro leaves (not stems)
2 fresh garlic cloves (or 2 t. minced garlic)

Drain and add:
One can black-eyed peas
One can pinto beans
one can shoepeg corn
Mix all ingredients and serve with tortilla chips (scoops are the best)
Better the second day. It ages like a fine wine. :0)

Shoepeg corn is by the other corn. I don't know what's so special about it. For black-eyed peas, nothing beats Sylvia's. Sylvia claims to be "the queen of soul food" and I believe her. I tried using other brands, or using dried black-eyed peas and it wasn't NEARLY as good. I don't know what Sylvia puts in her "specially seasoned" peas, but they are ah-ma-zing and worth the money. Here's what it looks like all stirred up. It makes a TON, so I'd suggest making it for a party or giving some away. Especially if your silly but wonderful husband won't eat it. Otherwise you might end up eating the whole bowl. Which I wouldn't suggest. Not that I've ever done that.

I'll probably be linking up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Fake it Don't Make it Orange Chicken Bowl

Mr. Wonderful really likes a dish at Applebee's called the Crispy Orange Chicken Bowl. I googled it, and found this recipe. It was great, except that it took a day to get the oil off the floor, stove and the smell out of the house. I avoided making the recipe because of frying the chicken. So we decided to try something new. Here's the new recipe.

Two boxes of breaded chicken fingers

1 T olive oil

1 t. minced garlic

1 1/2 t. grated orange rind

1 c. orange juice

1/2 c. hoisin sauce

dash cayenne pepper

1/4 cup sugar

dash of salt and pepper

Cook the chicken as directed on box while you prepare the glaze. Warm the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens, stirring frequently. Pour sauce over chicken and serve with a stir fry.

I tried this last night and it worked great! Much easier than frying the chicken. Bon Appetit!